


Look How Far We've Come

by Sophia_Prester



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, SO MUCH FLUFF, references to coming out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-09-27 09:52:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10001939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophia_Prester/pseuds/Sophia_Prester
Summary: It's clear that Bitty is planning some sort of celebration for just the two of them, but Jack has no idea what or why. Unless, of course, he's forgotten some sort of anniversary. But there's nothing special about August 12th... is there?





	

**Author's Note:**

> After months of reading Check Please fic, I decided to have a try at writing some. I'm still working on the epilogue for my TRC fic, but it was nice to take a break by writing in a new fandom and in a genre (fluff) I haven't played in much. Anyhow, I had a blast writing this. Many thanks, as usual, to [Aishuu](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Aishuu/pseuds/Aishuu) for all of her help and encouragement.

_Sunday, August 12, 2018_

Jack didn't know why Bitty had insisted that they block off that particular Sunday for just the two of them, but as he lay in bed, comfortably dozy after a round of slow morning sex, he had to acknowledge that the idea had merit. Prep for the season was starting to pick up, and lazy days like this would soon become vanishingly rare.

Still, Jack had a suspicion that this wasn't the only reason Bitty had drawn a big red circle around the '12' on the kitchen calendar.

Part of him thought he should maybe get up and join Bitty in the kitchen, or be responsible and get in a short run while Bitty was cooking breakfast. The rest of him was content to bask in the early morning light, the warmth of the sun on his skin contrasting with the cool of the air conditioner. He could hear Bitty in the kitchen, snatches of song punctuated by the clatter of a whisk and the thumps of bowls and pans and cabinet doors. The only smell that reached the bedroom so far was that of coffee, but that would change soon enough. Bitty had promised him cinnamon rolls with orange glaze to go with his usual fruit and eggs. Normally, Jack would have oatmeal or whole grain toast - both of which he genuinely liked, thank you - but a few days ago, Bitty had pestered him into naming what foods he would choose if he were truly going to _indulge_. Apparently, indulgence was part and parcel of Bitty's overall plan for the day. 

Not that Jack had any idea what that plan was. 

He wallowed for a while in the novel feeling of uncertainty being a _pleasant_ thing and waited for Bitty to return.

There was a series of beeps as the kitchen timer was set, and then soft footfalls as Bitty came back to the bedroom. Jack sat up, smiling at the sight of Bitty returning with coffee, shirtless and with a pair of Jack's pajama pants riding temptingly low on his hips.

"Rolls should be done in about twenty-five minutes." Bitty had put the dough in the fridge last night for a slow overnight rise so he would have more time in bed that morning, a strategy Jack very much approved of. "I've got your eggs all ready to go once I get the rolls out of the oven. You okay waiting, or do you want one of your godawful protein shakes to tide you over? We did have _quite_ the workout this morning."

He winked and Jack laughed. 

"I can wait." Twenty-five minutes would give him time to get dressed, or at least convince himself to get out of bed. He thought about that for a moment. The idea did not appeal. "Can we eat in here?"

"Feeling lazy, hmm?" Bitty handed Jack his cup of coffee, then slid into bed with his own. They sat shoulder to shoulder, leaning back against the headboard. "I concur. Breakfast in bed sounds lovely. I should have thought of that myself."

They drank their coffee while shifting between familiar, comfortable quiet and fragmented conversation about everything and nothing. It wasn't anything new for them, but for some reason, right in the middle of one of their easy silences, a thought struck Jack:

_I have this. This is mine. This is my life. There was a time..._

And then, just like that, thought became memory and memory flung him back nine years. He had been sitting in bed then as he was now, but instead of the warmth of Bitty by his side, there was a chill between his shoulders where his hospital gown had gapped open. It had been foggy then, not sunny. He remembered his father standing by the window, shoulders hunched and shaking. And now he could see the newspaper he'd insisted be brought to him over his father's protests and there was the article about Kent going first in the draft. Jack felt more than remembered the cold weight in his gut as the consequences of what he had done became horribly, unchangeably real.

In 2018, Jack closed his eyes as heard the echoes of what had run through his mind as a newspaper fell to the floor in 2009.

_I've lost everything. This is all my fault. There's nothing left for me._

"Jack?"

He opened his eyes. Bitty was peering up at him with concern. Memories vanished like fog in the sunlight that slanted through the room.

He cleared his throat, but the words still came out rough. "Sorry about that, Bits."

"Are you okay? It looked like you kind of... went away for a bit?"

Bitty's head was at the perfect angle for Jack to lean over and kiss him on the forehead. So he did. 

"Maybe a little, but it's okay. It's just... I'm so happy, and for some reason I started remembering how there had been a time when that would have seemed impossible." He turned so he could reach up and lightly run his fingers along Bitty's jaw and then up to brush through the close-cropped hair, smiling as Bitty closed his eyes in pleasure. "And maybe I was wishing there was some way I could go back and tell the me back then that everything was going to be okay. More than okay. Not that I would have believed it back then, but, well... you know."

Bitty studied him for a while with wonder and also with a glimmer of amusement that puzzled Jack. He didn't _think_ he'd said anything untoward, so why did Bitty look like he was trying not to laugh at some private joke?

"I know what you mean," was all Bitty said, however, before leaning in for another kiss.

By then, the smell of bread and cinnamon had drifted from the kitchen into the bedroom. They kissed lazily for another few seconds or maybe another few minutes, but then Bitty lifted his head and sniffed at the air. The kitchen timer went off just as he swung his legs off the edge of the bed.

"Why do you even bother setting a timer?" Jack said as Bitty headed to the kitchen.

"Oh, hush!" he called out. "You just stay right there, mister - don't be going anywhere!"

"I wasn't planning on it," Jack called back. Bitty's sudden absence had left him a little fidgety, especially in the wake of his mental trip back in time. Fortunately, the folder of house listings was on his nightstand, so he didn't even have to get out of bed to grab it. It would help pass the time and occupy his mind while Bitty was getting their breakfast together.

It took him a moment to open the folder, suddenly caught by the sheer ridiculousness of the idea that he, Jack Laurent Zimmermann, was actually planning to buy a house. It didn't seem real. But it was. He and Bitty were looking for a place that would be _theirs_ for years and years to come. 

This was why his new contract had a no-trade clause that was worth infinitely more to him than the salary hit he had gladly taken in exchange. It meant he could have the room full of bookshelves that he'd always dreamed of, and Bitty could have the kind of kitchen he deserved. It meant having a yard with space to hold cookouts for the team and their families, and spare rooms where they could have one of the new rookies stay for a season if need be. It meant having Shitty and Lardo and Ransom and Holster and Chowder and all the others come for visits. It meant hosting Christmas and inviting both sets of parents.

(The only downside to the whole process was that Jack was slowly and reluctantly coming to the realization that Bitty was right that when it came to houses, 'historically interesting' often went hand in hand with 'maintenance nightmare.')

Oh, well. The important thing was that they would be moving into a house that was theirs and they would be doing so openly. Soon, there would be no more need to hide.

In just two months, on October 11th to be specific, Jack and twelve other players across eight teams would be coming out along with three retired 'big names' (he had no idea who, and wouldn't even presume to guess), while - so far - ten other teams with no players coming out would make statements of absolute support. 

It was... he could still hardly believe it, even after two months of discussion and planning with You Can Play. Years ago, Jack would have thought he would have to do this alone if he did it at all. He never would have imagined being included almost as an afterthought in something that had been set in motion half a year ago by the Schooners and the Canucks. Plus, George had let slip a vague and cryptic hint that he wouldn't be anything close to the biggest story to come out of the event.

Years ago, Jack would have wagered that his coming out would have been the headline, not a footnote, or that he would be thinking about it with impatience instead of dread. He couldn't say he was at all sorry about how things had turned out.

Well, he was sorry that Kent had balked at joining the rest of them in October, but he was glad that he and Kent were talking again (even if right now it was mostly about how much fucking Aces management fucking sucked). Things still weren't a hundred percent great between them and might not ever be, but they were better. Better than he once could have imagined. Better enough that he was surprised to find himself hoping that the rumors about Kent being in talks with the Bruins were more fact than rumor.

Jack shoved aside his worry about what the resurfacing of old rumors from the Q might mean for Kent and pulled out the one listing he kept coming back to. The one he had found himself daydreaming about for the past three days.

The sprawling Craftsman style house had been built around 1900, and was the one of the few places they'd seen that met both Jack's love of old houses and Bitty's insistence that walls and floors should meet at right angles. Its kitchen had been fully modernized while preserving all of the original millwork and hand-crafted tile. It also had an actual library with built-in shelves tall enough to need a rolling ladder. He and Bitty had done a walk-through on Thursday and after a few days' thought, Jack was no longer terrified about the idea of making an offer.

Not all that long ago, a house - a _home_ \- was something he wouldn't even have thought to hope for, but now it was shockingly easy to imagine the two of them in that place a year, two years, ten years from now. 

The sound of softly clanking dishes pulled him back to the here and now as Bitty walked in with their breakfast on a tray. The promised cinnamon rolls were there, as were the eggs, but Bitty had also included some sausage that Jack had not thought to ask for but was glad to see. There was also a hobnail vase full of daisies that were so perfect with their white petals and little yellow centers that they looked like they were plucked right from a child's drawing. Jack wasn't much for cut flowers, but these were just _happy_. 

"Scoot over just a bit, sweetheart," Bitty said. Jack did as he was told and Bitty got into bed and placed the tray between them. Bitty leaned over the tray and claimed a kiss. "I can't think of the last time I had breakfast in bed. Well, it's a special day, so why not do something a little special?"

The vase was in danger of tipping over so Bitty took it off the tray and handed it to Jack to put on his nightstand. Jack took the vase and its happy little flowers but the mention of a 'special day' made something like dread curl at the back of his throat. 

Up to now, he had been enjoying the uncertainty, but now he wasn't so sure. There was a _reason_ for all of this fuss. Was he supposed to know what it was? Was he missing something Bitty assumed he knew about? Yes. He must be. That was the only explanation But what was it? And how disappointed would Bitty be when he found out that Jack had forgotten?

Jack started to ask something but Bitty just tore off a piece of cinnamon roll and popped it right into Jack's open mouth.

"Breakfast first, questions later. Now hush and enjoy your breakfast."

Jack's eyes fluttered shut with pleasure at the taste of the still-warm roll, but questions still nagged at him and he could feel the threat of tremors in his hands. 

"Mmm. You spoil me," he said, trying for normal.

"It's my job," Bitty said simply. "Today more than ever. And there's a lot more where this came from, mister."

Bitty did not elaborate on any part of this statement, instead watching to make sure that Jack started eating before starting in on his own breakfast.

Jack took a few bites of his eggs and another bite of his roll, but it was hard to enjoy it with nervous questions poking his anxiety into wakefulness. So, he figured he might as well ask, even if it got him into trouble.

"Um... not that I'm not enjoying all of this, but why today? Did something happen on August twelfth?" Jack tried to make it sound casual, but Bitty laughed and leaned in to kiss the tip of his nose.

"Aw, honey. Are you worried you forgot something?"

Jack felt a tinge of warmth in his cheeks, and it only grew when he looked away and Bitty laughed kindly.

"Uh, maybe?"

Bitty reached out and stroked his cheek, pulling Jack's gaze back to him again. His smile was fond, but there was also an edge of mischief to it that made Jack slightly nervous. This was the good kind of nervous, though.

"Well, today _is_ an anniversary, but I wasn't expecting you to remember, honestly I wasn't. I'm sorry if I made you worry, honey. I only figured it what today was because I had an idle notion a couple of months ago and had to go back and look it up."

Jack frowned and Bitty's eyes crinkled in amusement. Was he supposed to figure this out himself? What on earth could have happened in mid-August that they'd want to celebrate? Last week, they had gone out to dinner to celebrate their third anniversary as official boyfriends, and right before that, they had gone up to Montreal for an early birthday celebration. So what else was there?

"Remember how you said there was a time you couldn't have imagined being this happy?" Bitty ran his fingers lightly along Jack's jaw, pausing to flick at the fading scar under his chin. His voice was no longer teasing but gentle, so gentle. Jack took hold of his wrist, holding his arm still so he could kiss the palm of Bitty's hand.

"No. I couldn't have," he said, and he was surprised at the roughness in his voice. 

"Neither could I, which is why today is so important." Bitty took a deep breath and sat up straight. Then, he blinked a few times to clear the brightness from his eyes, but he was smiling. "Jack, five years ago today, we met for the very first time."

There was a sense of wonder and then... Jack groaned and let his head fall forward into his hands as he laughed helplessly. "Oh, _god_... 'Eat more protein.' Haha. That was... _wow_."

Bitty laughed along with him. "I could not believe you actually said that to my face. Oh, my goodness, I could not _stand_ you back then!"

"And I couldn't understand how the hell someone like you was supposed to be on my team. You looked like you were twelve! I thought Hall and Murray must have lost their minds." Looking back, it was funny, but there was part of him that still cringed at the memory of just how horrible he had been back then. He still couldn't hear the words 'lucky shot' without his gut twisting in shame at remembered pettiness. "So we're celebrating the anniversary of 'eat more protein?' Really?"

"Of course not, silly! We're celebrating how far we've come, and all those things we couldn't even begin to imagine back then." 

Oh.

"Like you voting for me for captain that year, even after everything that happened?" After everything he'd said. After sending Bitty into harm's way.

Bitty raised an eyebrow at him. "Of course I voted for you, silly. Also, you and I _did_ become friends that year, although I would have laughed out loud if anyone had told me that at the start of the year. Or if they had told me that I'd be out to my entire hockey team before Christmas and not only would I not be bullied for it, every single one of you would have my back."

Just as the Falconers would have _his_ back when October rolled around. Jack started to say something, but Bitty told him with a look that he was far from finished. He reached out and took both of Jack's hands in his own before continuing.

"I certainly would never have imagined back then that you would have become one of my best friends, or that I would fall in love with you. I never..." Here he had to let go of one of Jack's hands to scrub at his eyes. "I never even _allowed_ myself to imagine that you could possibly love me back, but you did. You did."

Jack leaned forward to kiss away the next tear that fell, and he was very much in danger of crying himself. "Of course I did, Bits. How could I not?"

But Bitty was right. Five years ago, he couldn't even have begun to imagine feeling like this about anyone, or about anyone becoming more important to him than hockey. And if anyone had told him it would be that puny blond kid who had no business being on the ice...

But here they were.

"Oh, I could think of plenty of reasons why not," Bitty laughed. "I kept telling 'em to myself much of that year, but then you had to rush in and kiss me at the last possible minute like we were in some kind of dang romantic comedy."

Jack leaned in and kissed him right then, just because it seemed like the right thing to do at this part of Bitty's story. And it was a story. It was a story about all the things Jack never could have imagined, back when he was at the start of his junior year and still wallowing in all of his failure and disappointment and the gnawing fear that a failure and a disappointment was all he would ever be.

The kiss lingered a bit, with Bitty finally pulling away and letting his teeth scrape lightly across Jack's lower lip as he did.

"Never would have imagined _that_ five years ago. Or you asking me to be your boyfriend. Or me moving in with you. Or _this_ ," he said, picking up the sheaf of house listings then letting them flutter back across the bed and down to the floor. Then, he just looked at Jack for a long time, his expression carefully schooled, as if fighting back nervousness. Jack felt his own anxiety curl and flicker at the back of his mind in response, but this was Bitty. Bitty who loved him and who said it and showed it all the time. Whatever happened next would not be bad.

Whatever it turned out to be.

"I was gonna do this later tonight, but now I'm thinking that making you wait would be just plain mean. Hold on a sec..."

Bitty leaned down and away, and Jack heard the nightstand drawer scrape open and closed. Jack's first thought was 'lube?' but it didn't fit the mood or timing. When Bitty sat back up, his hand was clasped around something.

"Five years ago, I never would've imagined wanting to spend a minute longer with you than absolutely necessary." His voice was shaking and so was his hand when he held it out to Jack. When he opened his hand and Jack saw the ring, the entire world and everything in it seemed to stop. "But here I am, wanting to spend the rest of my life with you. Jack Laurent Zimmermann, will you marry me?"

It took a moment for the world to start again, but before Bitty's smile had a chance to grow tight with worry, Jack pulled him into a crushing hug, face pressed into the crook of Bitty's neck. "Yes. _Yes_. Of course it's yes."

But once upon a time - say, five years ago and especially not nine years ago - there would have been no 'of course' about it. But that was then and this was now. 

Five years from now, they might be laughing over the story of how Jack had hugged Bitty so enthusiastically that the ring had gone flying behind the headboard and so, instead of romantically slipping it onto Jack's finger, Bitty had spent the next fifteen minutes trying to fish the ring out from under the bed with a coat hanger. Or maybe Bitty would get misty eyed at the memory how - later that night - Jack had surprised _him_ with a ring he had been saving for October. 

Or maybe they would sit on the porch of their Craftsman home, enjoying a quiet evening alone and then one of them would mention how it had been ten years since they first met...

And then, just as he did now, Jack would marvel at just how far they'd come.  
.

**Author's Note:**

> Here are a few details and bits of headcanon that didn't make it into the fic.
> 
> House-hunting: Jack had originally wanted to buy something built no later than the 1700s, but Bitty - who grew up in a house built in the late 1800s - had all kinds of horror stories about the kinds of problems you would have in an older home, especially one built without plumbing or wiring figuring into the construction. 
> 
> In regards to the mass coming out, I do headcanon Tater as not straight, but I also had the thought that players who were Russian nationals might have been reluctant to join in, especially if they had any plans to travel back and forth to Russia. Kent's main (but not only) reason for not joining in is hinted at by the fact that his and Jack's recent conversations have mostly been about how awful Aces management is. Once Kent goes to a team that will support him, he will gleefully unleash holy hell on the Aces' reputation. As for the thing that will be a bigger headline than Jack, two players on two different teams will come out not just as gay/bi, but as a couple. 
> 
> As always, kudos and comments are greatly appreciated!


End file.
